


Blood of the Sith

by them_bonez



Series: Blood of the Sith [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Multi, One Night Stands, Pilots, Planet Coruscant (Star Wars), Planet Mustafar (Star Wars), Sith Master & Apprentice Relationship(s), Sith Temples (Star Wars), Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:21:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24746011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/them_bonez/pseuds/them_bonez
Summary: Kudra Deschain is a young pilot working for a trade company out of Coruscant. Her next trade route to Mustafar, ends up being a fiery life changing revelation to the dark side of the force, where she meets Maul, a sith apprentice to Darth Sidious.
Relationships: Darth Maul & Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Darth Maul/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Blood of the Sith [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2022332
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is pre phantom menace, by like maybe a couple years. I had fun writing this, but it's just for fun so hopefully no one takes this too seriously and gets mad at me for depicting Maul in a way they don't like. I wanted to show a softer side to him. Probably NSFW, but there's nothing that graphic as I am a secret prude.
> 
> A huge thank you to my fiance for helping me out with some of the technical aspects as well as the story writing. And thank you to all my friends who have not only put up with me talking about my dumb Maul story for the past few months while I slowly chipped away at it, but encouraged me to continue. Love you all!
> 
> I do not own anything to do with Star Wars or it's characters or George Lucas Films. Please do not sue me, I am not making money from this.

The metal floor plates quietly vibrated as the YT-1000 entered the Coruscant atmosphere. The pilots were a young woman with pale skin and long black hair, and a young male twi’lek with orange skin. They wore similar black jumpsuits and even seated at the helm it was obvious the twi’lek would tower over the woman.

“So Kudra, what are you planning to get yourself into now that we’re back from that mess?” The twi’lek asked with a smirk.

“Mess?” She replied, dodging the question, “I had everything under control the whole time.”

A green and gold astromech droid wheeled in to beep his counter and the twi’lek laughed and asked, “Your droid really loves to call you out. Why do you still keep that old thing around?”

Kudra busied herself with checking all the landing sensors and grumbled back, “That droid has proved useful on every run we’ve done. Plus, I like her sarcastic attitude.” She was cautious to not make it obvious the droid was her only friend and constant in her life the last 10 years.

“Have you set up the meeting then with Krass? After we land I won’t have much time to…”

“Yes Kudra,” The twilek cut her off and she shot an icy glare his way, “Krass will be ready and waiting for us so you can go off on your secret missions or whatever it is you do.”

Kudra sat in silence while they came into the landing bay. Why did he always get so mad she didn’t want to hang out with the team after a job? They just spent 2 weeks on this crusty cargo ship together. They both deserved to do whatever they wanted on their own.

As promised, Krass was there waiting for them, once they got off their ship. He was a tall weequay with leathery brown skin and knotted blonde hair. He always tried to look higher class than he was, which made him look tacky in Kudra’s opinion. He wore his usual worn out and dated long red leather coat with tarnished brass buttons and knee high black boots over canvas pants. He stuck out like a sore thumb on the landing bay amongst the muted flight suits of most everyone else.

Krass and the twi’lek discussed unloading the cargo and routine maintenance with the landing crew while Kudra checked in on L0-K1.

“Make sure these maintenance droids don’t mess anything up while I’m gone.” She said as she stooped down to wipe grease from the droid’s arm. L0 beeped and wheeled away.

Kudra stood in the back against the wall of Krass’ small, now crowded office. The whole team was probably over 40 people, but he only held the meetings for pilots, engineers, and copilots so 13 of them all together. A low hum of conversations between everyone enveloped the room until Krass spoke up to start the meeting. The room quieted and he gave his usual fanfare speech while explaining everyone’s next jobs. A sinking feeling hit Kudra in the gut as she realized her name hadn’t been called. She could not afford any time off right now, and as far as she knew she hadn’t done anything wrong lately. As it seemed like the meeting was wrapping up, Krass remembered her, “Ah yes Kudra, I haven’t forgotten you. You’ll be taking the Z95 to the outer rim for a small but important job.”

Kudra nodded her head, “Yes, Sir.” 

Slowly, everyone filed out of the room and Krass caught her arm as she neared the door.

“Listen,I know you just got back, but if you can leave right away, it’d be a huge help. I’d consider your ship, the YT1000, paid in full after the job got done. If you do it right of course.” He finished sternly now forcibly grabbing the top of her shoulder.

“Sure,” Kudra responded coolly, “I can leave as soon as the ship’s ready. What’s the mission?”

He loosened his grip, “Top secret.” he stared into her green eyes as if to search for a reason he might be wrong about sending her on this mission, finally removing his hand from her shoulder and looking away.

“You’ll be going to Mustafar to trade with a mining collective there. In and out, easy peasy. It’s hotter than blazes there and not like some desert planet. It’s covered in lava so pick up some protective clothing, ‘fore you head out. I’ve already deposited more than enough credits for ya to prepare. Any questions?”

Kudra thought for a moment, “Naw, just load the information onto L0 about which landing bay to aim for and who the point of contact will be. Thanks for trusting me captain, I won’t let you down.” The weequay sprung to life suddenly and patted Kudra so hard on her back it made her cough. “Enjoy your night and I’ll let you know when the ship’s ready.”

  
  


Kudra pulled the covers up around her, pulling it off the naked sleeping man next to her in bed. She quietly packed her bags and got dressed. She debated on waking him up, and tripped over an Alderaanian wine bottle, spinning it across the floor and making a loud clank against a metal chair leg. Well, I guess that’ll wake him, she figured. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. He was really quite handsome, dark brown skin and curly brown hair with scruffy facial hair like he’d forgotten to shave.

“Hi gorgeous, are you leaving already?” he looked up at her from the bed.

“Yes,” Kudra responded plainly. “Apologies for waking you.” She started to pick up his clothes to hand him and he grabbed her for a kiss, causing her to lose her balance and fall into him, kissing him deeply and forgetting herself for a moment.

“I’m sorry” she said, pulling away, “this was fun. I do need to get going though.”

“Right,” he shrugged her off and got dressed in awkward silence.

Kudra made it to the ship bay just in time. Krass was waiting with L0.

“Ok, you’re all set with coordinates.”

“Great, thanks Krass,” she started to crawl up the boarding ladder.

“Kudra, wait.” She stopped and turned her head toward him.

“I didn’t mention it earlier, but” he paused to look around them as he handed her a small black velvet pouch, “this is very important and very secretive. Never take it off your person, until you meet your point of contact. It’s worth your very life.” He stuffed the bag in her hand and didn’t let go for a moment. 

“So what, is this the actual cargo?” she looked at him skeptically.

“You could say that. Don’t let it into the wrong hands. It’s imperative it gets to our contact person.” he shook his hand holding hers and the pouch.

“Ok, I’ll make sure your old “friend” gets their prize.” she joked with a wink.

“Please, Kudra. This isn’t a joke. No funny business with the clientele this time. You won’t always have someone like me to get you out of your lovelorn messes.”

Kudra’s cheeks burned red hot and her heart raced. How dare he treat her like this, like some mischievous star crossed lover. She covered the anger up with her voice keeping it as cool sounding as she could, “Of course. In and out, business as usual.” She turned to crawl back up the ladder, and Krass was still standing there and yelled after her, “No. NOT business as usual! Professional this time please!” Kudra kept climbing, “Yup you got it Captain. You know I always get the job done one way or another.” She and L0 boarded the Z95 at last. She tied the bag to her belt and got ready for take off. 

“What’s the worst that could happen, L0?” she asked the droid as they exited the Coruscant atmosphere. L0 responded, likely with an actual answer to the worst things that could happen and Kudra laughed.

After about an hour into their journey, Kudra remembered the weird encounter with Krass before they left. She opened the pouch to see what was so important inside. L0, beeped her opposition.

“Chill out, L0, I’m just seeing what it is that is so important. I’ll put them right back in the pouch.” She dumped the pouch contents into her palm. Two pyramid shaped, black and gold objects fell into her hand. She noticed there was some type of inscription on the sides of the pyramids. Somehow they felt heavier outside of the bag than inside of it. 

“Wow, what do you think these are? Some kind of puzzle?” she asked L0 and the droid screeched a response.

“Ha ha yeah, I suppose my life should be worth more than a couple puzzles.” She slipped them back into the bag and tied it to her waist again.

“Alright, L0, we’re getting close. Narrow in on our coordinates before we get out of hyperspace.” 

Kudra tied her long black hair back, revealing a portion of her head shaved and a tattoo of a convor. The ship came out of hyperspace near Mustafar, but in the middle of an electrical storm. The ship controls went erratic and every sensor that could beep started beeping.

“Woah, L0 what the hell is going on? I can barely get into a landing pattern.” Kudra weaved in and out with the barely working steering controls, trying to avoid the erratic lightning happening all around them.

“Why does this shit only ever happen in the outer rim?!” She was desperately trying everything as they started to enter the atmosphere, “L0 please fix our navigation plot, I can’t see anything!” L0 chirped, but the ship was struck by lightning, flickering their main power and everything went dark, the controls went dead.

“That can’t be good! I’ve gotta land L0, find me something to land on, find a way to SLOW us down.” Another lightning strike on the ship and power flickered on for a moment. Enough for Kudra to take some controls and slow the ship down. Everything happened so fast and she was doing everything not to panic and to just focus to try and find any type of solution. She had to use all her strength to try and guide the ship with what little power they had. All Kudra could see was lava. “Is there anything NOT lava on this dumb planet??” she screamed and L0 screamed back at her. She found a landing, but they were coming in way too hot. It was the best they could hope for, so she made the descent.

The initial impact onto the scorched ground completely obliterated one of the wings and most of the rest of the ship was torn up beyond recognition. They were sliding and spinning out of control until finally a bed of lava stopped the ship. What was left of the back of the ship was up in flames as the lava ate away at them. No time to think other than “escape” Kudra began kicking the canopy to try and free both of them. She was running on pure adrenaline as she could feel the ship slipping further and further into the lava, the flames getting hotter and hotter. It started to feel hopeless, so Kudra took a moment to focus every part of her on getting out of the burning ship. A deep breath in, eyes shut, and a strong kick thrusted the canopy off the ship and Kudra jumped out and fell onto the burnt ground. L0 flew out after her with a shriek and an ungraceful tumble next to her sounding like an empty can. 

“Woah, L0, you look like shit.” Kudra coughed out, while starting to stand. L0 wheezed a response

“I know, I feel like shit too. Thankfully I have these ugly threads to keep me cool.” she looked down at the black and dark green thick formless robes draped over herself and then back at the ship melting and burning into the lava pool as she lowered her goggles over her eyes. The reality hit her again, and she realized how bad this was. The ship was gone. They were in the middle of nowhere on a lava covered planet. The ship let out a final death rattle as the lava engulfed it entirely and Kudra fell to her knees. Well, this was maybe the worst that could happen.

They started walking, with no real apparent plan other than to maybe find somewhere that wasn’t covered in lava.

“Do we even know how to get to the mining collective from here? What was the contact person’s name?”

L0 chirped the answer.

“Ok, I am choosing to ignore the distance we are from them, but Uane’s the name so we got that.” Kudra sighed deeply. She was too exhausted to keep up any sort of positive charade.

“We need to get out of this heat. Let’s see if we can find a cave over in those cliffs.” Kudra pointed off into the distance a series of cliffs that normally probably wouldn’t take longer than 20 minutes to walk to, but in this heat it was hard to say.

L0 beeped conversationally.

“Listen, I realize if I had taken Krass up on his original offer years ago, I’d be unhappily married but with a ship. And not here. That much I realize. What’s your point?”

Another prodding chirp from L0.

“Settle down? With Krass? Are you out of your mind? I do just fine on my own without looking after some useless old person all the time. This heat is really melting your brain, L0.”

L0 continued prodding Kudra with past mistakes she had made. Kudra wished she could punch a droid and have it do anything other than hurt her own hand.

“L0, what is your deal? We’ve been over this. Why are you always bringing up that deal on Corellia? The whole thing worked out a lot better, actually BECAUSE of me.”

L0 whirred in disbelief.

_ “ _ Yes I stabbed Crix Harend! As you’ll remember he attacked me. At the time, I had no idea that was his wife in my bed.”

The droid buzzed on about this Correllian from Kudra’s past.

“I actually don’t think Crix ever found out about me and his brother. Anyway that was so long ago. Why can’t you let it go? We still managed to trade our cargo with them in the end.”

L0 wasn’t letting it go and starting to get on Kudra’s last nerve.

_ “ _ Yes, because I slept with Crix too. What is with you right now?” She screamed at the droid. 

They walked on and on in mostly silence now as Kudra was mad at L0 and also too exhausted and shell shocked to make commentary. As thankful as she was to have been warned about the heat and having the right clothing for this planet, something told her they weren’t meant for all day frolicking in the lush lava fields.

Mustafar felt like hell. Every breath was fire on Kudra’s lungs, every step reminded her of all the pain, mostly physical, but her mental game wasn’t so strong right now either. She trudged on and on, L0 whirring quietly behind her. At last, they found a cave to hide in. It wound pretty far back through some tunnels, but that was good. The further in they went the cooler and darker it got. L0 lit up the cave with a small flashlight attachment as Kudra made a makeshift pillow and blanket with her capes and passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kudra and her droid L0 attempt to make do on Mustafar.

Kudra woke up sore and dehydrated. Her head hurt like she’d been out all night on a bender except no hazy memories of fun partying to accompany the dull throbbing. She had a small amount of emergency ration food and water on her person, but it wasn’t much. They’d need to scavenge for more. The cave had almost no light besides a few of L0’s small glowing lights, which was not nearly enough to allow her to see anything. 

“Good morning L0. Shall we go find a Cantina to get food and drink?” L0 chirped incredulously. 

“Yes I am very funny I know. Let’s see if there’s any food or water in these caves as a backup plan?” Kudra got up and felt the full extent of the stiffness in her body and her head swam making her light headed. This should be fun.

They walked around the cave with L0’s flashlight lighting their way. Mostly the caves were abandoned, but occasionally they’d see small critters scamper away as L0’s light hit them. Eventually, they came across a small water reservoir. It tasted ashy and mineral rich, but better than nothing. 

“I hate to say it L0, but I gotta figure out a way to kill those bugs for food.” L0 responded with a short blip and Kudra sighed. 

“It’s only temporary. I’m sure we will find someone or something eventually to help us out. There is no sense in starving out here, if I can help it. You are lucky to not have to worry about such things.” 

They hatched a plan of attack on the bugs. Since L0 could see them without shining a light on them, which made them run, she’d have to zap them to stun it and then Kudra could go in for the kill. They were crab like critters, with 6 legs and a round body the size of a human fist. They had 4 eyes on a small head that protruded from their body in a disturbing manner. The planet really did feel cursed to Kudra on so many levels.

The bugs didn’t taste good. In fact, it was the most disgusting thing Kudra had ever eaten, but at least she wasn’t starving and she tried different ways of cooking them with heat from the lava outside. It seemed easier to just eat them raw in one slurping gulp than to bother with any other method that prolonged the taste in her mouth. 

The next several days were spent with L0 exploring the caves, killing bugs, collecting water, sleep, repeat. Finally, Kudra suggested they were ready to venture out of the caves to find a colony or something that could help them get out of there. The caves were safe enough for now, but it wasn’t sustainable and Kudra wanted to find Uane, their trade contact, and go home. They collected more water and bugs for the trip, not knowing how long they’d be out there.

They made their way out of the caves and into the oppressive heat of the lava covered planet. The paths to walk on were sketchy at best and non existent at worst. Sometimes Kudra would step on a seemingly stable path and feel it begin to submerge into the lava. It was a wonder she hadn’t set fire to herself. This started to feel like a huge mistake. There was a small rocky hill ahead and she hoped that would be promising.

“L0, look,” she said pointing to the hill, “let’s head that way!” L0 chirped in disagreement.

“What? No way L0, that way is going to be worse than this has been. You’ve almost fallen into the lava 3 times now. The rocks over there will be more stable I’m sure of it.” L0 followed Kudra begrudgingly and Kudra could feel the annoyance, but didn’t care. 

Kudra turned the corner to keep on the current path and through a narrow pass. When she came out on the other side, there was a pool of spitting lava covering the only places to safely step. She lost her footing for a moment, her right leg kicking out from under her. She grabbed the rock wall to her left and heaved herself out of danger’s way. 

_ That was close. _

She looked back for L0 and in slow horrific realization saw the droid half wading in lava that had crept up from the path.

“No no no no no, L0 noooo, I’ll get you out, hold on! Please hold on!” she pleaded as she climbed over the small rock wall to rush back to L0, who was buzzing in a panic now. Kudra reached out to try and grab at the metal droid while the Lava pool grew and bubbled.

“I’ve got you, ha ha. I got you!!” she grabbed onto L0’s dome and pulled, but the lava pulled back stronger while L0 screamed in terror.

“I’m not giving up!” Kudra screamed at the lava and watched it grow around her. She had to step back to avoid getting caught in it herself and almost lost her grip on L0. She barely had any leverage at this point, but still held on strong to the droid. She quickly glanced around and saw a bigger rock outcropping she could jump to and pull the droid out from there. She let go of L0, made the jump and reached down to grab at L0 again. L0’s screams were now warbled and glitchy sounding. 

Kudra reached out and grabbed the droid, but the lava spit up at her hand and burned her bad through her gloves. She tried not to let go, but she saw another, larger, spit of lava head for her hand and pulled it away instinctively. The pull back resulted in her losing her center of gravity and she fell backward onto the jagged rock surface. In a moment she jumped back up, adrenaline coursing through her to try and grab L0. The droid was barely visible now, just a small side of the dome still visible, as the lava slowly lapped it up and ate away at Kudra’s only friend like a sentient monster created to destroy anything Kudra cared about. She watched in utter horror and devastation as the lava bubbled up until L0 was completely gone.

_ No, No. This can’t be right. I… I am having a nightmare. I’ll wake up in my bed any second now. This can’t be happening. This did not happen. _

She stared at the lava pool that ate her friend for hours trying to make sense of what happened. In a daze, she made her way up the hill and into another cave. If you’d asked her how she got there, she wouldn’t have been able to say. She was completely disassociated from reality. Without L0, she couldn’t see far into the caves so only went as far to where it was a cool enough temperature to lie down and collapse.

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kudra meets a strange male Zabrak

Kudra slowly opened her dried tear encrusted eyes to see the wretched cave wall. Her hand was shooting with intense pain from the lava burns, but it took an immediate back seat to the memory of losing L0. She turned over with the idea of going back to sleep, but suddenly felt someone’s presence in the cave with her. She bolted up to a seated position and sternly asked, 

“Who’s there? What are you doing here?” She could make out a figure near the door to the cave, but couldn’t see anything besides a deep red skin tone and black tattoos on their face. 

_ Perhaps a Zabrak _

The rest of the figure was shrouded in a black cape and the darkness of the cave. Finally, a deep raspy voice responded to her, 

“Why are  you here?” the stranger demanded. She could feel a presence in her mind attempting to needle it’s way to the truth and she fought it out by focusing on L0’s death.

“My droid and I crash landed here after we got caught in an electrical storm. My ship’s gone and my droid’s dead. So I’m not really sure what I’m doing here other than experiencing hell.” Kudra said through gritted teeth.

“Oh, so very sad for you.” the stranger responded attempting to eat away at her already pathetic remnants with mockery.

“Yes, well I don’t expect you want to help me, so I’d prefer you just leave me to die instead of mocking my pain.” She looked into the stranger’s bright yellow eyes and the feeling in her head sharpened like someone had cracked it open to steal its contents slowly extracting the threads of her memories and snagging on itself on it’s way out. She focused again on L0 until that drawing out pain subsided.

“Who are you?” the stranger further demanded.

“I’m Kudra Deschain. I’m a pilot and mechanic. I was sent here by my boss on Coruscant to do some work for someone at the mining collective.” She never told anyone about the cargo unless she was certain it was the point of contact.

“I see,” the stranger stepped towards her, “I can take you somewhere safer than this.” Kudra felt an immense weight lifted off her, followed by an immediate sense of skepticism. 

_ He’s never even told me who he is. _

“Why should I trust you, I don’t even know you.” The words spat out from her like venom.

“It looks to me,” he said, menacingly calm, “You don’t exactly have a lot of options.” He spoke quietly, but with more aggression than most could convey with yelling. He turned and started heading out of the cave.

“Well, how do I know I can trust you?” she asked as she rushed to get up and follow him out of the cave. He turned his head back to face her,

“You don’t.” He walked out of the cave. Kudra sighed and grabbed her stuff to follow him. 

_ This is completely crazy. But what else can I do? _

Kudra was hungry, filthy, weary, and injured. Maybe this stranger was her key to getting home.

“Hey wait up stranger!” she yelled after him. He had already advanced far ahead of her and her weakened body felt like it could only move in slow motion. He made no acknowledgement of her request unless it was to walk even faster. She panted and ran ahead trying to close the gap between them. She fell down several times and caught her injured hand on a jagged rock at last causing it to gush with blood. She was furious now and in tears.

“DON’T SAY YOU WILL HELP SOMEONE IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO YOU BARVE.” she screamed ahead at him. She picked herself up and shook off the dirt and soot. She looked up and gasped as his yellow eyes and red and black face snarling at hers only inches away.

“I owe you nothing. Keep up or crawl back to a cave. It does not affect me.” the words oozed like the lava pits around her, melting away any sort of nice feeling this planet or the zabrak could ever have. She glared at him through her goggles knowing it was probably impossible for him to tell she was shooting daggers at him in her mind. She let the anger wash over anyway and it felt good for once, like she could keep going.

He made a low hmph sound and turned to keep walking. She kept up much better this time. Neither of them spoke. Kudra looked forward to being away from this angry zabrak. Every step filled her with more anger at this situation. The planet was the worst thing to happen to her. She was so engulfed in her thoughts and anger that she didn’t notice the zabrak had suddenly come to a stop in front of her and she ran completely into the back of him with her full body weight. He stood sturdy and unmoving from the jolt of her accidental shove. She couldn’t help but notice his build was not that much bigger than her own, but was solid muscle and a rush of butterflies entered her stomach.

_ Ew, no. You’re just lonely. _

“We’re here.” he moved forward and she looked around at the abandoned looking mining colony. He opened the heavy door and she went into the darkness, uncertain if this was going to be the stupidest thing she’d ever done. Maybe this would be the new Crix Harend story. Her heart broke as she remembered L0 would never be around to make fun of her for that again. She could already feel the cool air and the darkness didn’t phase her until the zabrak closed the heavy door behind her with a loud thump and there was no light. He grabbed her with a gloved hand and led her through the darkness until finally she saw some light ahead.

“Can you see now?” he asked. The anger in his voice was no longer dominant.

“Yes. Thank you.” She tore her arm away from his grasp and rubbed her skin where he had held onto her so firmly. They entered a living space. The walls were a discolored yellow/orange color and there was dust and soot covering everything. She scanned around the room, it felt like the highest class hotel after what she’d been through. An actual bed, towels, clothes, and best yet, food and water. She’d been through hell and here she was in heaven. The ridiculousness was too much and she burst out laughing at the absurdity of her own thoughts. She laughed so hard she gasped and tears ran down her face as she hugged a pile of towels and linens. The zabrak looked at her with concerned confusion, his arms crossed and head cocked at an angle. She caught his look and it made her laugh even harder. 

_ This is it. I have finally officially lost it. _

Finally she caught her breath and smiled at him, “ This is so great. Thank you for bringing me here. I wouldn’t have found this without you.”

“I know you wouldn’t have.” he said, sounding annoyed. She remembered his gruffness and rolled her eyes at him while heading for the bathroom to shower and change.

The shower was dingy and quite honestly, one of the grossest she’d ever had to use. That didn’t change the fact that it gave her the best and longest shower of her life. It felt like she had been stuck on this planet for years, growing layer after layer of soot and dirt as she watched it rinse off her body. The clothes left behind by whoever was here before were nothing fancy. A loose dark gray tunic, black pants and a black belt to cinch the waist. Her hair was knotted even after the long wash, so she tied it back and looked in the mirror. Her face was reddened and scratched up pretty bad. A deep scab started at her hairline by her temple to the corner of her eye with a dark purple bruise surrounding it.

“You look like hell!” she said, winking at herself in the mirror. She wrapped her burned up and bleeding hand with some scrap linens. She made herself some food from the rations and looked around for the zabrak. He wasn’t in sight and she was not adventurous enough to explore out in the pitch dark for him. Oh well if he left. At least she was safer here.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maul and Kudra in the abandoned mining colony

She woke in the morning, if that’s even what time it was, impossible to tell in the mines, feeling refreshed for the first time since being trapped there. Her hand and head still really hurt, but sleeping in an actual bed had done wonders for her mental state at least. She wondered if the zabrak had actually left or if he was still lurking around here somewhere. As she walked into the main room that question was immediately answered as she saw the zabrak seated reading a book. He had removed his hooded cloak and she could more fully see his face and neck tattoos as well as the horns on his head.

“I wondered if you had left.” She said nonchalant.

“I left only for a while to give you privacy. You fell asleep immediately after your shower.” the zabrak responded, barely looking up at her staring down at his ancient and dark book. She sat down next to him trying to look at the book, “What are you reading?” He slammed the book shut with one hand and turned toward her, 

“What I am and what I do are none of your concern.” He said in his calm aggressive tone.

Kudra rolled her eyes at him and got up to make some food. 

“What’s got you so tense? Are you hungry?” The zabrak ignored her as she made coffee and breakfast.

“Well, Can I at least get your name?” she finally asked.

“Maul.” he responded, still avoiding looking at her as he read.

“Great. We are finally getting to know each other. This is fun!” she sat down next to him again and leaned into his shoulder to tease him. He sat unmoving and made no attempt at interaction with her. She took the hint and moved away to eat in silence.

After she was done eating, she darted up and announced, 

“I’m going to go explore the mines. You are boring me and there’s nothing else to do.” She started to walk away and made it outside the living quarters as far as she could see, which was not far before all the light faded away and she was left completely blind. She surrendered and turned around to go back, but immediately ran into someone. It threw her so far off balance she fell back until a hand caught her back and brought her close to them in an almost half hug.

“You cannot walk around out here without light, Lady Deschain.” Maul’s voice sounded like a thunderstorm rolling in from far away. She prayed that he couldn’t see the reddening of her cheeks in the darkness. He stepped back from her and grabbed her arm to lead her through the darkness through the mines. He eventually found a lantern to give them some light for Kudra to see their surroundings. There really wasn’t much to see besides the stone tunnel they were currently in, until they walked into a huge room with scaffolding and ropes hanging every which way and a giant hole in the middle of the room. With what little light the lantern gave off, she couldn’t even see the other side of the room or how far down the mine shaft went.

“Wow, I can see what you mean about not exploring around here without light.” she said as she kicked a stone over the edge of the hole and waited an eerily long amount of time to hear it land.

“Where are the other living quarters? Maybe I could find a commlink or some way to call home.” she asked him.

“There are no other living quarters. Everyone else who worked here stayed in bunks a floor below here. There’s nothing left in them.” He said firmly.

“Oh, right. This creeps me out. Let’s go back.” she held onto him as they walked back, even though she didn’t really have to anymore and he didn’t object.

Back in the living quarters, she hid in the tiny bedroom to cry. She was so angry at being trapped. Angry at Krass for giving her this stupid job. Angry at herself for crashing the ship and losing L0. The image of L0 melting in the lava was imprinted on her brain and played over and over again. She wanted to go home. She wanted to be anywhere else but here. Be anybody else but herself. She couldn’t figure out if this stranger, Maul, was friend or foe. He had been nice to her, but why? Why was he so secretive about himself? Something about him made her feel ill at ease.

Eventually, she made her way back out to the common area and found Maul in the same position as earlier, reading his old book, not looking up even when the door behind her wooshed shut. There wasn’t anywhere else to sit in the small room besides next to him so she sat there again. His serious demeanor wasn’t what made her uneasy, she had dealt with that her whole life. Yet something about him made her uncertain of how to act around him.

“How long are you going to stay here?” She cut the silence open.

“Have you grown so tired of me already?” he looked over at her with his serious look and Kudra’s eyes grew big until he let out a laugh. It took Kudra by surprise more than if he had snarled at her again. She slightly jumped in her seat and laughed with him.

“I just mean what are we doing here? I thought there’d be a way home for me or something. I, I just, I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing!” She threw her hands up in the air and her eyes filled with hot tears.

“I know you are angry and full of sorrow, Lady Deschain. We are only here to wait out a storm. I can take you to the mining colony once it passes and you can find your new boss and be rid of me.” Maul looked back down at his book and Kudra sighed and twirled her hair. It still didn’t quell her uncertainty about him, but at least it was some type of plan. 

She got up to look around the cupboards of the room to see if there was anything to keep herself occupied.

“Astral!” Kudra exclaimed in glee as she pulled out several bottles of wine. She opened one and poured two glasses. She walked over to Maul to hand him one and he remained staring at his book, ignoring her offer.

“Have some fun with me!” she pleaded with him. He hesitated, but finally reached for the glass. They drank in silence at first until Maul presented her with a question.

“Why is it you want to get back home so bad?”

She thought it over carefully, swirling her wine in the glass. 

“I guess I’m not sure. I’m not really that attached to Coruscant, but all my stuff is there so it feels like I should go back there, you know?”

“No, I do not know. What kind of stuff? Your family you mean?” He took another drink of wine.

“No, not family. Just like my friends, my apartment, my possessions, that kind of thing.” her cheeks were flushed from the wine, but she kept drinking.

“Hmm.” Maul pondered. “You have no one waiting for you back there?” Kudra got up and backed away from him. What was he getting at?

“No. I have people. Friends and lovers. They will be looking for me. I’m not some loner nobody thinks about!”

_ Am I though?  _

Now she felt angry and sad again.

“Relax. I meant no harm. It just seems...we were brought together for some purpose.”

_ Oh great here we go again. Another one of these guys who thinks they can save me. _

“What kind of purpose?” Kudra asked defensively. “What do you think, I’m some helpless harpy that you’ll magically cure with your masculinity and I’ll be your pathetic woman slave forever following you around to dote on you.” The wine had taken her over the edge,

“Oh Maul you are so big and so strong, I’ll do anything for you.” she finished in a mocking baby voice and pretended to faint in his lap. Maul stood at once, forcing Kudra to fall to the floor and threw his wine glass against the wall, spilling wine all over the dust covered shelves and he stormed out of the room into the darkness of the mine.

Kudra sat up and waited for adrenaline to dissipate as she breathed heavy shallow breaths.

“Why am I always trapped with fragging bantha fodder?!” she screamed to the empty room.

Now that she sat there alone she noticed the sounds of the storm outside. High winds creaking the structure around her. Was this place strong enough to hold? She shivered and poured herself another glass of wine. 

_ Not like I need it. Frag it. _

Maul did not come back that night and Kudra woke up the next day, or whatever time or day it was, she had no idea. She was utterly depressed and laid there feeling sorry for herself until Maul walked in.

“You say you are a mechanic?” he asked. The question sprang Kudra to life.

“Yes! What do you need?”

“Follow me.” he said as he walked out of the room.

She followed him until they reached a landing bay, dimly lit by lanterns around the room. There was only one ship in it, a YT-1000.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Kudra laughed.

“I just found this. It needs a lot of work, but perhaps could be your way out of here.” he explained. She approached the ship hesitantly and walked around it.

“Well it’s solid at least. I’ll take a look inside and see what kind of damage has been done.” she said as she walked up the boarding ramp. She couldn’t believe her luck. She thought her chance of having a ship like this again was long gone. Of course, who knew if she could even get the thing going again, but it was a start.

She turned it on and ran some tests. It was clear the hyperdrive was nonfunctioning and needed a handful of parts to be operational. She started to undo the steering column to try and rewire stuff and was horrified to find most of the wires melted together.

“Well, here’s a major problem.” she started to undo the wires, she’d need completely new wires, these were toast. Maul stepped inside to take a look and began dismantling the navigation system.

“Wow look how busted up all these parts are,” Kudra said looking over his shoulder. “How’d they get this way. It looks like someone melted it all.” Maul shot her a look of disbelief and she remembered where she was.

“Oh, right the lava. Ok well, I’ll get to work then. This will keep me busy for awhile. Are there any tools or extra parts here?” She asked him. He shot her a glaring look.

“I’ll see what I can find.” he said begrudgingly as he walked out of the ship. She began undoing more panels to pull out fried and busted wires and parts. He came back with several bags of tools and parts and started to help her pull apart the inside of the ship. They were basically working on top of eachother in the cockpit at one point and the zabrak’s aroma filled Kudra’s head, like petrol and coffee that was rich, but slightly burnt. She pushed past him to grab some new wires and accidentally backed Maul into a corner behind her as one of the large metal panels fell onto her legs and caused her to fall back into Maul. He reached up to try and steady her and caught her in the armpits, his hands resting at the side of her breasts for a moment, until they both tried to over correct for the mistake. Kudra turned to face Maul, resting her hands on his chest, while the panel dug into her legs and further pushed her into Maul. He leaned into her and Kudra closed her eyes and drank his scent, pursing her lips. She felt his hands behind her lifting the panel away from her legs so she could back away from him and he cleared his throat.

“A ha, um thanks.” she nervously laughed and walked away to busy herself on the other side of the room facing away from him to hide her embarrassment.

They were able to fix a lot of the ship, but it still needed a new starter and special wiring for the hyperdrive that neither of them could find.

“We may be able to find what you need at my camp.” Maul suggested, back at the living quarters. Kudra was in a much better mood after working on the ship. It was the first time she’d felt useful since being on Mustafar. It was nice to feel something other than anger and remorse. She laid on the bed throwing a cup up in the air and catching it.

“Sure, that’d be great if the parts we needed were at your camp. When is it safe to go?” she asked, tossing the cup up again. The creaking sounds from the storm outside were loud and dangerous sounding, so she imagined they’d have to wait some time.

“We leave in 6 hours.” Maul said emotionless. Maul sensed something in Kudra that he couldn’t ignore. She had something he needed and she was force sensitive even if she didn’t realize it. He could feel her using her mind tricks on him, and was shocked to find they actually worked to some extent on him. Even more surprising was her ability to block some of his mind tricks on her. She had information for him, he sensed it was about how to kill his master and he was going to draw it out of her one way or another.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maul takes Kudra to his camp.

They exited the mining colony together and if Kudra thought Mustafar was hot before, this was next level. How could they sustain this for any amount of time to get to Maul’s camp? The wind carried fire with it. Kudra followed closely behind Maul. He at least provided a bit of a shield for her as they traversed the treacherous paths between lava beds. They didn’t talk much for the hours they trekked. Kudra’s entire body started to feel like lead, but she made no complaint and trudged on after Maul. 

At last, they came to a series of caves. A few of the bug critters scampered away as they entered through the labyrinth of caves. They were only there to rest for a short while, but it was much needed.

“How much further until we get to your camp?” she asked quietly.

“There’s nothing for you at my camp. I have decided it would make more sense to take you to the mining colony where you can find your point of contact. They can help you with your missing ship parts.” Maul said nonchalantly, while Kudra nearly choked on the water she just tried drinking.

“Excuse me? Absolutely not. I have not agreed to this. You can’t just make decisions on my life without even consulting me.” she exasperated.

“You are not my problem, Lady Deschain. You were here to meet the mining colony. Why are you upset that I'm taking you where you need to be?”

“Because you can’t just decide to take me somewhere against my will and act like there is nothing wrong with that!” she pleaded with him.

“You will figure something out, I’m sure.” he responded flatly.

“Please Maul. I know I said I was to go there, but without my ship and droid I’d be useless to them. They would enslave me. You know this, I know you do. Please don’t do this.”

He was silent and she was panicked.

“I um I could help you out I bet. I know I could. I am a great mechanic, you saw I fixed that ship..mostly. I can pilot and I can negotiate. I know I could help you out.” she might as well have been on her knees begging.

“Hmm. A pilot and mechanic who crashed her ship, let her droid die, and a negotiator who can’t negotiate for herself even. Yes, I see these are great attributes of yours.” his mouth turned up in a half smile as the words oozed out like tar drowning her soul. A rage so intense filled her entire being until it fully possessed her. She stared deep into his yellow eyes hating him for existing, hating for wanting to trust him, hating this awful planet. He represented every bad thing about this planet in that moment.

Maul crept towards her until their faces were almost touching,

“Now,  that, I can use, Lady Deschain. Yes, I see your purpose with me now clearly.” his hot breath hit her unmoving face and she wanted nothing more than to kick him in the groin and punch his face in. She held herself back and he slowly backed away into the shadows of the cave. She sat and stewed in her anger until she passed out from exhaustion.

She woke up before Maul and quietly prepared to get back out in the heat. She had no idea what to expect from today, but prepared herself for the worst case if he did end up trying to pawn her off on the miners. She imagined unlikely schemes of getting out of it if he did try something. In some of them, she ended up selling him to the miners. She laughed aloud at that idea and suddenly she felt Maul’s breath on her neck.

“What could possibly be amusing to you already?” he practically whispered it into her ear. She shivered and shoulder checked him off her. He shoved past her out of the cave and she followed closely behind.

The heat storm wasn’t nearly as bad today and they were able to move faster. Every time Kudra was out walking on Mustafar, the more it made her want to go home. They walked all day again until Kudra’s body felt like lead and her lungs and throat burned with every breath from inhaling fire for the past two days.

At last, Maul stopped at a small outcropping of rock pillars all about 3 meters high. There were a dozen of them at least and she followed him through them to the edge of a dark stone building as high as a twenty story building on Coruscant. She soon realized there were ancient carvings all over the building and pillars. Maul opened a hidden door using some type of magic where it looked like he didn’t even touch the door.

_ Is he a Jedi? _

She walked through the now open door. It was cool and dark inside, but not pitch black. The halls were dimly lit with floating lights at the top of the six meter high walls. The air felt ancient and darker than anything Kudra had ever experienced. Strangely, she felt comforted by the dark energy, like it was a black velvet cloak she could wear and disappear in forever.

Voices whispered and it sounded like they were calling to her from somewhere deep and far away.

“How many people live here, Maul?”

“Thousands over the years. Many have left parts of them here forever. The voices will trick you. I would advise learning to ignore them.”

“What is this place?” she asked while circling around looking up at the walls and lanterns around them.

“An ancient temple.” he replied, “This is where I live and train. Where you will do the same now. Unless I decide to take you to the mines. So don’t make me change my mind, Lady Deschain.” he threatened her with an outstretched finger in her face. She grabbed his finger to pull it away and leaned into his face, 

“I think we will get along fine, Maul.”

He grumbled and pushed past her. 

“I’ll take you to your quarters.” his voice sounded clinical and she followed without protest.

Her room was modest, but comfortable. The bed was hard, but there were clothes in her size. Almost identical to what Maul was wearing; an all black tunic, belt, pants, boots, gloves and a hooded cloak. It felt like she had been expected here. She changed and decided to explore the temple a little. Making careful note of each turn she made so as to not get lost. Most rooms were blocked off until she arrived at a large circular open room. She could hear the voices again in there and felt herself being pulled in by them. 

The room was empty save for a large pillar in the center with a small object on top about two meters up. The voices sang out like a mournful choir and her inner voice was overtaken by someone in a foreign language telling her to to grab the object. She didn’t understand how she understood the voice or where it was coming from, she was more interested in the object. It looked almost exactly like the objects Krass had given her. The ones that she had carefully tied to her belt every day since she had been trusted with them. The symbols on the sides of the object on the pillar shimmered in a glowing orange light, as if it were spelling something out to her.

She reached up to touch it and could see a vision of Maul in a panic trying to hold her back, but it was too late. Her hand closed in around the object. She felt hypnotized like she couldn’t control herself or her mind. The object began to float above her flat outstretched hand. She stared intently at it and felt her mind moving some of the faces. The box shifted with her mind, until it decided on a final resting position and beamed out a bright orange light and dropped back into her hand. As soon as it made contact with her skin again, it sent an electrocuting shock through her as she experienced a thousand different moments from a thousand different people at once. All in torment and chaos, all gaining power from the pain. She screamed out, but no sound escaped her. She felt hands on her shoulders and in an instant woke up back in her quarters drenched in sweat.

What a nightmare. She looked around and soon discovered Maul was in her quarters with her.

“What are you doing in here?” she demanded. Her head was killing her.

“Do you remember anything from last night?” he calmly asked her.

“Yesterday? Ah I’m not sure, I thought that was just a bad dream. Why are you in here with me?” she asked, yawning.

“Last night, you unlocked an ancient sith holocron. It is one that is used in our training.”

“Sith? Our? You’re sith?” Now her head really hurt.

“Yes and now you are too. You are to be my apprentice.” He stepped towards her with his hand outstretched.

“Apprentice? Listen, I don't even know anything about  any of this. What are you even asking of me?” she was still sitting in bed staring at him with a confused look on her face.

“I have sensed the dark energy in you from the moment we met. Now, you were able to unlock the sith holocron. You are ready to begin your training.”

“Can I have a moment, Maul?” she asked as she got out of bed. He left the room and she started pacing.

_ What just happened? What is sith? I thought that was a made up story to scare kids. Am I better off finding the mines? What happened last night? I should just pack up and leave now. _

Suddenly, a flashback from the holocron hit her like a trance of a young female twi’lek being tortured. Kudra could feel every branding and lashing of whips the twi’lek endured. Kudra screamed in pain and fell to her knees. Maul had entered the room again and helped her back up to her feet.

“This will continue to happen until you let me teach you how to control and use these emotions and memories.”

“You set me up?” she asked, but realized it wasn’t a question.

“We met for a reason. I no more set you up, than you passed a test that was presented to you. You have nothing without me. I have read that from you. This is your future. This is your purpose.”

“You say that and yet I have no idea what you do or what being a Sith means. From what I can tell you have trapped me here for some ulterior motive that I haven’t figured out, yet you want me to think we are to be teammates or master and apprentice. What can I even say or do?” she felt utterly defeated by him.

“What do you feel you must do?” he pressed her.

“I feel like I want to learn more about what you’re asking me. Can you give me some time to learn about all of this and decide if it’s right for me? I’ll volunteer myself to the mines if I decide it’s not for me.” She looked so deep into his eyes to try and see what he had planned, but his intense yellow eyes protected his secrets like a nexu’s den.

“We shall see.” Maul said as he walked out of the room. He didn’t let her see the smile creep across his face. She would not say no, this much he knew.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mushiness

If she could just convince Maul to give her enough time to learn about the Sith, she could simultaneously plan an escape. Seemed far fetched, but she had somehow convinced him to bring her this far. She was fully aware that he could have killed her at any moment before now. He must need her for a reason. She had to remain useful to him, or at least fake it until another opportunity presented itself to her. She rolled the holocrons from Krass in her hand.

There was a part of her tempted to take him up on his offer. She knew very little of Sith, but it seemed like it was about learning to become a trained assassin and that was pretty tempting. At what cost though? The master/apprentice relationship weirded her out. She didn’t like taking orders from anyone and didn’t want to be tied down to someone like that. Beyond just the initial weirdness, she sensed something very sinister about it all as well.

He brought her tea one morning and she felt wary of his kindness, though a little endeared by it too.

“I heard you screaming in your sleep last night.” he sat down on the bed next to her.

“Hmm,” she sipped the tea, “I didn’t know I was that loud. Have you tried ear plugs?” she was now embarrassed and annoyed.

“I can help you. It doesn’t need to be like this.” He looked into her eyes and Kudra sighed deeply.

“I know you think you can help me, but I’m not sure that I need anyone’s help. Not like that anyway.”

Maul got up and walked to the door, turning to face her he replied, “It is useless to resist. The dark side of the force is already a part of you. Let me help you learn to control it.”

“I’d rather be miserable on my own than trapped with a stranger the rest of my life as his glorified slave.” Maul laughed at this in his deep and menacing way.

“Lady Deschain, I know not of what happened in your past to make you think everyone wants to enslave you, but I have no desire to treat you as such, nor will I ever. You will not be bound to me for life as you seem to fear.” Kudra sat in silence as she thought for a moment and finally replied to him, 

“You act as though this is some great partnership for us both. Yet I now have seen that there is no trust in a Sith apprentice and master relationship. I can never trust you.” She looked for some kind of reaction out of him, but he remained unmoving.

“No.” he finally stated, “We can never trust each other. Trust is not what you desire most. Freedom is. I can practically taste it on you. The dark side of the force is the only way you can achieve true freedom. I know you can feel it calling to you. This is the reason we found each other. Don’t run away from this like you do everything else.” He turned and silently walked out the door. 

The next several days, Kudra immersed herself in Sith history and legends. Unlocking the holocron had allowed her the ability to read the ancient texts. A lot of it was really quite dull, but the stories of betrayal, torture, and unqenchable power thirsts intrigued and worried her.

Maul had started to open up to her a little more. She could tell he feared and respected his master, the way he spoke about him. He gave her a proper tour of the temple and answered her questions. She was wary of his sudden warmth, but found herself melting from it anyway.

They entered another room and Maul was prattling away,

“Each of these inscriptions holds a fallen sith’s most horrific memory. When we begin….” she tuned out what he was saying as if she was in a dream floating alongside him. She stared up at him wanting nothing more than to put her arms around the back of his neck and pull him in for a kiss.

_ Was the loneliness really getting to her that bad? Was he putting some kind of spell on her? _

He looked at her confused, “You look like you are being torn between worlds, Lady Deschain.”

“That’s one way to put it,” she responded softly. He took her face into his hands and she wrapped her hands around his waist and kissed him deeply. If it surprised him, she couldn’t tell. He kissed her back with the most passion she’d ever felt from someone. His large hands moved down her torso and grabbed her waist to pull her into him and she began to undo his belt.

They slowly knelt to the floor of the temple, until they were both lying down, Maul on top of her as they rhythmically moved their bodies as one. He was an incredibly strong yet gentle lover. He kissed her entire body, each one more sensual than the last. His skin was surprisingly soft, even through the countless scars he had all over his slender toned body. 

Everything else in the galaxy disappeared and they were the only two beings that ever existed in all of space and time. They laid on the cold temple floor holding each other for time immemorial. They died and turned to dust and the dust turned back into their bodies. If he had set a spell on her, it didn’t matter, they felt too good together for anything else to matter.

  
  


Kudra spent the next several days training with Maul in the ways of the Sith. The torment of what to do, was tearing away at her while she kept up the demeanor of an eager student. Maul was an aggressive impassioned teacher as expected. He never tortured her like the stories she’d read and seen in the holocron, but he didn’t take it easy on her either. Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all. On top of the Sith confusion, she felt herself spiral further and further in love with him. It felt good to be with him so she decided not to let it bother her too much.

Maul would often leave the temple for his own training missions, sometimes leaving her alone for days at a time. Kudra never minded. She would take long baths to soothe her tired muscles and practice meditating to use the force. She was deeply in love with him, she knew. It made her heart hurt deeply, and this gave her power, so she learned to never let it go. 

Being in love may be one of the most heart wrenching things to be, after all. To open yourself up to someone, a stranger for all intents and purposes, the mind begins to imagine the worst.

_ What will I ever do without them now?  _ Confusion

_ What if they’ll never be all mine? _ Greed

_ What if they die in my arms?  _ Grief

_ What if they betray me? _ Anger

_ What if I’m not good enough?  _ Jealousy

Kudra would get lost in these negative thought loops, the power coursing through her veins like a drug.

Maul came back to the temple one night ragged and beaten. Kudra learned to never ask details of where he’d been or what happened. Instead, she’d undress him, and sit in the bath with him helping him wash his wounds.

“Where would you go if it didn’t matter? Like you could go anywhere you wanted?” she practically whispered as she washed his back.

“Hmm. I’m not sure. Maybe to find my family on Dathomir. Why?” 

“Oh, just curious. Don’t you want to explore the galaxy? See wondrous new sights?” she said with soft excitement. 

“Why would that be something to desire?” he asked, confused. She laughed and climbed on top of him, smothering him with her face and body.


	7. Chapter 7

Like almost everything in the Sith temple, the training room was dark, cavernous, and dry. Everything on Mustafar was covered in dried layers of ash, and the Sith temple was no exception. Kudra and Maul were doing their near daily practice of Teras Kasi, a hand to hand combat sport. Kudra had surprised herself with how well she took to the sport and how well she could sense her opponent’s moves. Of course, she wasn’t perfect and more often than not the fight would end with her on her back and Maul looming over her as the victor. She didn’t let it get her spirits down though. Considering how new she was to this all, she felt proud of herself. She could feel herself getting stronger and was able to last longer after just a short while training. It all felt very promising and she felt her life had purpose and meaning again.

She could feel herself falling deeper and deeper in love with Maul. She wanted to stop herself, but it was too late. She was already careening out of a flying ship, the parachute was malfunctioning, and so she might as well enjoy the fleeting rush of excitement before her insides were on her outsides and the world as she knew it was over. She planted the impending sense of doom from it all inside herself and watered it daily. Every shared cup of tea, every bath taken together, every kiss, every stolen glance, she used these all to water the plant of doom in her soul and it quietly grew bigger and bigger inside of her.

As much as she loved Maul, she hated his master more and more. She fantasized about killing Sidious every day. She only ever caught a holo recording of him once and it was enough to obsess over his death at her own hands. She hated him more than she had hated anyone in her entire life. She felt and saw the torture he inflicted on Maul every time she touched one of his scars. Maul seemed to still respect him as his Master. She no more respected him than a bug on a wall you swat with a sandal and gag as its guts ooze out between the surface you killed it on and the bottom of your sandal. He was a pestilent little old man with nothing better to do than torment the lives of those who were younger and more vibrant than him. 

At the root of it all though, Sidious was what prevented them from truly being together. She had to go into hiding if he ever was around. Maul dare not ever leave Mustafar, unless on order by Sidious. They were trapped in that wretched planet because of Sidious. She could sense in Maul that he wanted him to die as well. She knew they were not ready for such a serious undertaking, Sidious was far too strong in the force. She wasn’t even a true Sith yet anyway. It didn’t not stop her from obsessing over it and letting that hate fuel her strength in the force.

She laid in her bed one evening looking at the two holocrons she’d been given from Krass before she left on this journey. 

_ How did Krass end up with these? What kind of trouble had he gotten himself into? _

She studied the holocrons and wondered what their secret was to opening them. The first holocron she opened had seemed so easy in retrospect. She didn’t even fully understand what she was doing and unlocked it. There must be some other kind of trick to these ones. She still hid them from Maul because she was terrified he’d take them from her and realize he had no actual use for her anymore. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but it was also the only thing she still had left of her past life. She was pretty sure Maul was who she was supposed to meet to give them to, who else would want Sith holocrons? That made her want to hide them from him even more. Her purpose here really would be through once she gave them to him. She dropped them back into their pouch and secured it to her waist again.

Maul knocked on her door and came in with wine. She perked up and he sat on the floor in front of her pouring the wine as she massaged his back.

“Master Sidious will be here again in a couple days.” he said as he handed her back a glass of wine.

“Oh.” she stopped her massage and sat further back on her bed, closing herself off from Maul, as she clutched her glass of wine.

“Tonight, though, we should celebrate your achievements in training so far. You’ve come a long way and are growing stronger every day. I can feel it in you. Your strength gives me strength.” he raised his glass for a toast and she reluctantly raised hers to clink his glass.

“My master’s presence troubles you.” he said after a long silence.

“I feel weird hiding, I guess. I don’t want to get you in trouble and whenever he’s here I feel like a burden.” she said half telling the truth.

“It is not a burden. You are easy to hide. He’s never here for long anyway. What could I do to make you happier with the arrangement?”

_ Kill him. _ She thought, but responded with an “It’s fine” instead. They moved on and talked about future training plans, and future plans with each other. The wine eventually dulled Kudra’s heartache and she passed out in Maul’s arms fully content.

Kudra woke alone and walked to the meditation room. It wasn’t really called that, but Kudra always went there for that purpose. It wasn’t much different from any other room in the temple, but it’s lights flickered in different rhythms that Kudra enjoyed using to meditate. The ominous voices began whispering to her, sending shivers through her whole body. She quietly walked out of the room and followed the voices until she heard Maul speaking. She stayed in the hall listening and realized he was talking to Master Sidious on a holo call.

“You’ve done well my apprentice.” she overheard the staticy old man sneer.

“The girl is your key to the secret holocrons. The key to everything you’ve worked towards.” The words slithered out of him like a cancerous serpent, drooling with venom.

“The time to kill her is now. Spill her blood and unlock the holocrons!” Sidious finished with wicked delight. Kudra froze in horror and Maul responded,

“Consider it done, Master.”

She could feel her heart shatter into a million pieces, and those pieces shatter into a million more. She didn’t know if she was going to throw up, scream, attack Maul, or just lay down and die in a puddle of her own blood. Maul ended the transmission and walked out of the opposite side of the room from where Kudra stood in anguished horror. Maul smiled to himself as his Master had no idea the blood to be spilled was his, by Maul and Kudra’s hands together. Then they would be free to rule the galaxy together. The rule of two upheld between them for as long as they both lived.

Kudra ran to the landing bay to grab what supplies she could in what little time she had. She found what parts she needed and started to run for it, when something in the corner of the room caught her eye. A speeder bike, specifically Maul’s Bloodfin. She hopped on and sped out of the temple as fast as she could.

It took hours, even on the bike to get back to the abandoned mining colony. She drove as fast as she could weaving in and out of lava eruptions and crumbling rocks. It didn’t matter if she crashed, if she couldn’t get there fast enough she was dead either way. She was overcome with raw emotions, so much hurt she felt like she was going to erupt like the lava around her. In a way it was tempting, to just lay down and let the lava encompass her. Her will to survive was no match for depression, though.

Maul was busy with his own training regimen to even realize Kudra was gone, at first. The temple was huge; they could lose each other for days at a time in there if they really wanted. Though, they rarely ever did. Kudra would disappear often, to meditate, soak in the salt baths, or to ‘just be left alone,’ she’d tell Maul. Still, it didn’t take him long to sense something was not right. He focused on her energy and felt the panic and torment she was emanating. 

_ She overheard Master Sidious’ plan. _

He ran to get Bloodfin, and of course it was gone. He’d have to take the Scimitar. Without a second thought he boarded the ship and took off to chase after Kudra.

Kudra boarded the YT-1000 in the abandoned mining colony and set to work on fixing where they had left off weeks ago. She was too panicked to let the sadness make her completely useless at this moment, but she was teetering on the brink of sanity. This wasn’t the first time she’d been betrayed, but it always hurt so differently each time. He had been using her all along and she felt like a stupid child for believing otherwise. He told her several times flat out not to trust him. 

She understood, now, the secret to the holocrons. There had to be a Sith’s blood spilled onto them to unlock it. He had to train her to be Sith for this all to work. That’s why he didn’t kill her straight away. It was the answer to everything. And it hurt like icy hot claws ripping away her bones to reveal her soft inner parts to all who would dare look at the embarrassment that she truly was. She thought she had found a new way of life for herself. A new purpose and meaning. It was all an elaborate set up to kill her. Maul would never be capable of loving her and it was foolish to have even entertained the idea for as long as she did.

The holocrons weighed heavy on her belt. She wished she had the power to obliterate them. Kudra readied the ship for take off and ran outside to open the landing bay doors. As she reached up to press the switch, she cut her wrist open on a piece of protruding metal on the wall. Blood gushed out of her wrist, but there was no time to tend wounds and feel pain. The old corroded metal of the landing bay doors began to open, letting out an awful screeching sound as it slowly revealed the red hot sky of Mustafar. 

_ Finally, I can leave this wretched place. _

She ran up the boarding ramp, and stopped herself a quarter of the way up. She ripped the bag of holocrons from her waist, held them for a moment, and finally threw them, watching them land on the seat of Bloodfin.

Maul knew she was gone the moment he approached the abandoned mine and saw the landing bay doors still open. He landed the Scimitar inside anyway to collect Bloodfin. On the seat of the speeder bike, was a small black bag tied shut. He slowly opened the bag to find the two holocrons, soaked in blood.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this! Please leave me some feedback if you can.


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